Let's keep vote system in placeAny time someone tries to change the way we vote, there's sure to be a ruckus. Proposed Amendment 1 is no exeption. The initiative that will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot would repeal a provision of another amendment that compels elections officials to print ballots and keep records in such a way so as to tie a particular ballot to a particular voter. The proposed amendment would do away with that system, thereby ensuring vote secre...

State's future uncertain as crises loomThis state's aginners may well find themselves in unprecedented territory in a few months. You know the aginners - they're against everything, not really for anything. They offer only complaints, no answers. They wish not to solve problems as much as to gripe. And if two things happen in coming months, boy, will they have a lot to gripe about. If voters decide on Nov. 5 to eliminate the state sales tax on food and medicine, state and local gov...

Progress 2002 draws to closeSundays in October mean lots of things. Football. Chilly mornings and cool evenings. Drives through the mountains to look at colors that herald in another season. For us, Sundays in October mean that we publish sections of our annual look back at the year, Progress. Our final installment of Progress 2002 is in today's edition. It highlights community activities and groups and commerce around the region. The section is 48 pages of stories, phot...

Money crisis looms for stateIn a surprising move, the state Supreme Court has agreed to let voters decide a measure to remove the state sales tax on food and medicine. The decision, handed down Thursday, is surprising because the court has in recent years taken it upon itself to save the state from itself. Whenever a thorny issue came up, we could always count on the court to toss the thing off the ballot, thereby saving the state's leaders from having to deal with the r...

Elections folks pretty darn good at doing jobsWe point an accusatory finger from time to time at some of our elected officials in Pope County. And why not? From ignoring rules and regulations to thumbing their noses at desperately needed projects, some of our "leaders" have their constituents headed down the wrong paths. But, one area in which this county's elected overseers of the public trust excel most of the time is in the process of putting on elections. Not too often do we have a pr...

Manual snafu points to need for managersBy now anyone who read Sunday's edition or any of several past editions of this newspaper or who has listened to talk radio for the past few weeks knows who Laquita Duerr is. She's a former clerk at Russellville Police Department, fired after a long and ugly personnel battle involving one of those repetitive-motion injuries and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Duerr certainly has not fared well in this case to date. The city may well suffe...

Returning to our role as watchdogIn the midst of football season, an analogy from that sport may well illuminate a growing issue concerning news coverage. As the first half of just about every football game ends, someone will note that the coaching staffs of the competing teams will use the upcoming intermission to adjust their game plans, ostensibly foiling the opposing team's offensive attacks or exploiting defensive shortcomings. Those adjustments may prove just the right ...

News items from the racist worldWe've received two pieces of news lately on the white supremacist front. One - that National Alliance leader William Pierce died - doesn't seem too horrible. Death, in and of itself, isn't ordinarily a cause to celebrate, but, in this case, it's not reason to call a national day of mourning either. Pierce founded the Alliance, an elite (if indeed that's a word to ever use when describing such organizations) organization of men, women, and chil...

Someone's looking out for residentsIt's comforting to know that someone is keeping an eye out for us all. We should all sleep better at night knowing that should a criminal mastermind slink into Russellville, our guardian angel will be on the case. Muy pronto. Are we safe from sexual predators? Well, not exactly. Drug dealers? Not really. Thugs who might jump us in a parking lot? Nope. Rest assured, though, should anyone try to hang a banner on a utility pole near a state highw...

Do markets really affect most of us?We're just as guilty as the next media outlet. We spend too much time and energy fretting over the stock markets. For the past year, that time has been spent generating nervous energy over the falling arrow on the tracking chart. Stocks have fallen, fallen and fallen even further. Every time some expert tells us that they can't fall any more, they dip again. Yet, what real effect does the stock market have on our everyday lives? Just more than...

Winds of war now blowing toward IraqPresident George W. Bush now has what he's been wanting for a while - a congressional OK to invade Iraq and dispose of that country's dictator ruler and thorn in the family side, Saddam Hussein. Bush has been chomping at the bit for months to get rid of Hussein, and it's difficult to feel any sort of pity for the Iraqi leader. At every opportunity, the Iraqi leader thumbs his nose at the world community's standards of conduct by hassling U.N. ...

Snuff out loony lawsuitIt's easy to understand why some people file lawsuits. Mega corporations have deep, deep, deep pockets - at least until they file bankruptcy for the billions and billions and billions of dollars they lost in shady deals. Sue the mega corporation, reap a windfall. And you don't even have to win the case - just be a big enough pain in the neck to get a settlement. Bing, bang, boom. It's that easy. But is it right? Well, consider the case of Raym...

No time for half wayPresident George Bush, with the help of Congress and at some odds with the United Nations, is preparing to change the regime in Iraq. That's a polite way of saying that U.S. soldiers will be going into some sort of battle in the desert in the near future. The president spoke to the nation Monday night, outlining his reasons for wanting to remove Saddam Hussein from power. He said many of the right things, if his goal was to punch the American ...

A vote against animal lawA friend of this newspaper, whose opinion on various matters we respect, said the other day that he'll most likely vote against the statewide proposal to make certain kinds of animal cruelty a felony. The referendum, set for the general election ballot, has stirred emotions on both sides of the issue. On the one hand are those who see violence against animals as a precursor to violence against people. Setting a cat on fire, hacking up a puppy,...

Judgment call madeBy Rick Fahr Let's play a game today. Let's pretend that you're editor of this newspaper. Sit in the big chair in the office way back in the far corner of the newsroom. Your day consists of answering a lot of phone calls and e-mails, trying to figure out why this computer isn't working properly and explaining why you do some of the things you do, usually to people who disagree. On this particular day, just as you're ready to begin work on next...

Opening old woundsThe Chicago City Council voted Wednesday to compel companies that do business with the city to divulge whether they ever had anything to do with slavery. The measure forces companies to say if, generations ago, the company traded slaves, transported slaves, insured slave-trading enterprises, whatever. What is the purpose of this ordinance? "I believe people would like to know if a corporation they're contemplating doing business with has its r...

Fix, don't scrapThe Titanic had troubles. Arkansas' state government computer system has more than troubles. It has warts on top of rashes on top of trouble. To wit, the Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System is way over budget - $30 million or so and counting. More than half of its programs aren't yet working, long after their due date. And Democratic legislators are chomping at the bit to heave-ho the whole thing into oblivion. Granted, AASIS ...

No votes for judgesOn Nov. 5, Arkansans will have a chance to vote on candidates for federal legislative seats, state executive jobs and local positions. They'll cast ballots for those who make and enforce the laws. They'll also vote for those who interpret the laws. In Arkansas, voters elect judges. And while that sounds like a good way to operate in a democracy, popularity contests (elections) shouldn't necessarily staff some institutions. The court system is ...

Not secret keepers"We tell the public which way the cat is jumping. The public will take care of the cat." -Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Time, On Journalists, May 8, 1950 The front page of this newspaper tells its readers that The Courier is a messenger for the Arkansas River Valley. A messenger carries news, delivers news, disseminates news. A messenger doesn't make up news, fabricate news, distort news. Nor does a messenger hide news. It is perhaps that aspect of ...

Show us the proofSaddam Hussein is a maniac who doesn't need to control a Monday morning dominos match, let alone a nation and one of the world's largest standing armies. He's a danger to the people of Iraq, the people of that region and peace-loving people around the globe. He's also a terrorist. There aren't many doubts about that. President George W. Bush has every reason to want to oust the dictator. Bush says that Hussein is building weapons of mass destr...